Capybaras
photo by Claus Meyer/Minden Pictures
Even the world’s largest rodents can have a tender moment. Here, a baby capybara nuzzles its mother in a Brazilian swamp. Averaging 120 pounds (50 kilograms), these tropical giants are at home on land or in water and feed on aquatic plants and grasses.
(via: National Geo)
Thousands of U.S. atheists turn out for ‘Reason Rally’
Thousands of atheists and agnostics turned out in the U.S. capital on Saturday to celebrate their rejection of the idea of God.
The Deorbit of the great Mir Space Station
0559 GMT (12:59 a.m. EST)
The era of space station Mir is over, ending a 2.2 billion mile odyssey of the orbiting complex that was visited by 104 astronauts over its 15-year voyage. Reports indicate the remnants of the station — the 1,500 fragments expected to survive reentry — should have splashed down into the South Pacific Ocean by this time.Today’s controlled reentry appears to have gone without any significant trouble as the Russians successfully deorbited the largest spacecraft in history. This is obviously a time of mixed emotions as the historic space station is now gone but the reentry went occurring to plan.
0556 GMT (12:56 a.m. EST)
Estimates put the debris of Mir to be at altitude of 10 miles.0555 GMT (12:55 a.m. EST)
Reports continue of a massive fireball of the sky as Mir falls back to the planet after its 15-year flight.0551 GMT (12:51 a.m. EST)
News reports from Fiji indicate that spectators have spotted the streaking destruction of Mir as several large pieces could be seen plummeting to Earth. The station appears to be on the proper course for impact into a remote area of the South Pacific.0550 GMT (12:50 a.m. EST)
At this point the space station Mir should begin breaking apart as it nears about 45 miles in altitude. Experts say the delicate solar arrays and communications antennas of the station will rip away first, then the modules will disconnect and rupture.0545 GMT (12:45 a.m. EST)
The altitude dipping below 50 miles. Mir weighs about 140 tons. It’s school bus-sized modules are arranged in a T-shaped structure, 86 feet by 96 feet by 99 feet. The core module was launched on February 20, 1986.Read the whole account of the deorbit here.
(Source: history.nasa.gov)
Researchers Show that Memories Reside in Specific Brain Cells
Simply activating a tiny number of neurons can conjure an entire memory.
Our fond or fearful memories — that first kiss or a bump in the night — leave memory traces that we may conjure up in the remembrance of things past, complete with time, place and all the sensations of the experience. Neuroscientists call these traces memory engrams.
But are engrams conceptual, or are they a physical network of neurons in the brain? In a new MIT study, researchers used optogenetics to show that memories really do reside in very specific brain cells, and that simply activating a tiny fraction of brain cells can recall an entire memory — explaining, for example, how Marcel Proust could recapitulate his childhood from the aroma of a once-beloved madeleine cookie.
(via abaldwin360)
![8bitfuture:
Space X plans passenger trips to Mars in 10 - 15 years.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk has revealed in an interview his plans to offer return passenger flights to Mars. While admitting initial trips would be unaffordable for most people, he says after 10 years of operation the cost should drop to around $500,000.
He says the key to the system will be to make everything reusable, as well as having the ability to refuel on Mars.
“My vision is for a fully reusable rocket transport system between Earth and Mars that is able to re-fuel on Mars - this is very important - so you don’t have to carry the return fuel when you go there,” he said.
“The whole system [must be] reusable - nothing is thrown away. That’s very important because then you’re just down to the cost of the propellant.
“We will probably unveil the overall strategy later this year in a little more detail, but I’m quite confident that it could work and that ultimately we could offer a round trip to Mars that the average person could afford - let’s say the average person after they’ve made some savings.”](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1awywGcbO1qft3eko1_500.jpg "8bitfuture:
Space X plans passenger trips to Mars in 10 - 15 years.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk has revealed in an interview his plans to offer return passenger flights to Mars. While admitting initial trips would be unaffordable for most people, he says after 10 years of operation the cost should drop to around $500,000.
He says the key to the system will be to make everything reusable, as well as having the ability to refuel on Mars.
“My vision is for a fully reusable rocket transport system between Earth and Mars that is able to re-fuel on Mars - this is very important - so you don’t have to carry the return fuel when you go there,” he said.
“The whole system [must be] reusable - nothing is thrown away. That’s very important because then you’re just down to the cost of the propellant.
“We will probably unveil the overall strategy later this year in a little more detail, but I’m quite confident that it could work and that ultimately we could offer a round trip to Mars that the average person could afford - let’s say the average person after they’ve made some savings.”")
Space X plans passenger trips to Mars in 10 - 15 years.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk has revealed in an interview his plans to offer return passenger flights to Mars. While admitting initial trips would be unaffordable for most people, he says after 10 years of operation the cost should drop to around $500,000.
He says the key to the system will be to make everything reusable, as well as having the ability to refuel on Mars.
“My vision is for a fully reusable rocket transport system between Earth and Mars that is able to re-fuel on Mars - this is very important - so you don’t have to carry the return fuel when you go there,” he said.
“The whole system [must be] reusable - nothing is thrown away. That’s very important because then you’re just down to the cost of the propellant.
“We will probably unveil the overall strategy later this year in a little more detail, but I’m quite confident that it could work and that ultimately we could offer a round trip to Mars that the average person could afford - let’s say the average person after they’ve made some savings.”
Conservation Saved Ancient Icelanders from Disaster
by Tom Marshall
This didn’t just help them recover from plague and volcanic eruptions; it may ultimately have kept human settlement on Iceland viable centuries later when climate change had made their environment even harsher.
The research examines how late-medieval Icelanders responded to potentially devastating population drops, by analysing layers of soil and volcanic ash.
‘Icelandic society at the time was both very conservative and very resilient’ says Dr Richard Streeter, lead author of the paper, which appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ‘We hear a lot about how societies need to be flexible, but in this case it seems to have been reluctance to change that helped these people recover surprisingly quickly from plague and cope with climate change.’…
(read more: Planet Earth)
(images: T - Árni Friðriksson, B - Andreas Tille)
Policeman strikes AFP photojournalist Patricia Melo during the Portuguese general strike in Lisbon March 22, 2012.
Portugal faces a general strike by workers angered by austerity measures imposed as a condition of a 78-billion euro bailout last year but doubts remain as to whether Thursday’s stoppage will receive widespread support. [REUTERS/Hugo Correia]
Read more: Portuguese strike against austerity snarls transport
(via socialuprooting)
Student-Loan Debt Reaches Record $1 Trillion, Report Says
Holy eff this is bleak. Some highlights:
- There is now more outstanding student-loan debt than credit-card debt in the United States.
- Debt is growing not just among students, but also among people who have left school and are falling behind on payments.
- Ten percent of the outstanding balance is delinquent - i.e. they are more than a month past due with no payments.
So yeah, this is basically going to prevent the generation currently entering the job market from ever enjoying the same standard of living as any college-educated generation before them! I mean, to be fair, things are looking even bleaker for the non-college-educated. But these are some absolutely dismal stats.
(via abaldwin360)
NIGHTNIGHT by DEDDY